


you're the only thing i'm sure of

by scorpiius (orphan_account)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: ?? Don't ask about that tag, Alternate Universe - High School, Banter, Cologne, Fluff, Harry is the new kid, Implied Transphobia, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M, More 5k, No Smut, Popular Louis, Sixth Form, again not much, just a few words, just a tiny paragraph, less 10k, not too harsh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:31:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/scorpiius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"That space is saved." Harry said, voice monotone as he stared at Louis, lazily chewing on the sandwich.<br/>"For who?" Louis questioned.<br/>"Someone who doesn't find my cologne insulting to their ego." Harry commented, lips wrapping around his straw as he took a sip of his water</p><p>or the one were Harry's cologne is so strong it settles on Louis' clothes, leading Louis' mum to believe he is in a secret relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the only thing i'm sure of

**Author's Note:**

> based off the original tumblr post from kingdom-come-again:  
> "I'm really sorry but can you please use a different perfume which is less strong because I sit next to you in four classes and my parents are starting to think I'm in a secret relationship AU."
> 
> n.b this work is purely fiction, any opinions expressed by the character's are made up to fit the plot, not taken or adapted from any of the real life people. please check the tags for any potential triggers as there are mentions of upsetting topics in this fic. feel free to share but please don't link directly to the boys/relations of the boys. the fourth wall is important! any mistakes and errors (please alert me of them!) are of my own accord. please enjoy :)
> 
> (title is from perfect little secret- snow patrol)

"Did your parents buy you a new cologne for getting into sixth form?" Zayn asked, peeking over the rim of his juice to look over at Louis. He got a new nose piercing over the summer, something he had been talking about for the past couple of years, but Louis never thought he or his parents would actually go through with it.  
"Huh? No. Why?" Louis asked through a mouthful of pasta, lazily going to brush away the sweetcorn that settled in the corner of his mouth. If there was anything that he missed about school during the summer, it was definitely their pasta salad, and he was more than thrilled to be eating it seeing as yesterday, on the first day of Louis' sixth form, they weren't selling it.  
"You smell like roses and apple, when you usually smell like cigarette smoke." Zayn commented, setting his juice down.  
"Wait, really?" Louis asked, lifting up his arm to sniff at the shirt he was wearing. Being in sixth form, they were now allowed to wear a "business casual" attire everyday, something that nobody really kept to, so his mind saw it as a non-uniform day for the next two years. Despite his mum insisting he wore a smart-looking button-up shirt with a tie, he managed to pull of some skinny jeans and a cardigan. So although he felt a little too dressed up in comparison to everyone around him, he knew that he wouldn't be getting a demerit for breaking the code of uniform. "Oi, Ni. What do I smell like?" He asked, holding his arm out to the blonde who sat down opposite him.  
"Well, hello to you too," Niall chuckled, tugging his arm closer and took a sniff from the sleeve. "Apples, and some kinda flower. New deodorant or something?"  
"Told you." Zayn said matter-of-factly, grinning over at Louis.  
"Why do I smell like apples and roses? I don't even wear cologne. Just some shitty deodorant that's titled American Dream or something like that," Louis mumbled, taking another sniff of his shirt, but this time from the other arm. "I'm so confused. Has someone sprayed something on me? I haven't."  
"It's nice. Once you find out where it's come from, find out the brand and buy it. Suits you." Niall shrugged, taking a bite from his sandwich.  
"Are you joking? I'm not wearing a cologne, or some kind of fancy deodorant. It smells like something a girl would wear." Louis muttered, scrunching up his nose when he realised the scent was plastered on his cardigan as well.  
"Sure Eleanor hasn't sprayed you with hers? Maybe she's still bitter after you left her since you told her you're gay." Zayn snickered, resulting in Louis tossing a piece of pasta over at him.  
"Shush. No, I haven't even seen her yet. I think she's purposefully ignoring me. Not that I blame her, I mean. I would ignore the person who stopped pending sex after they pushed me away saying they're into dick," Louis shrugged, huffing before scrunching up his jacket and shoving it onto the bench. "I smell gross, I hate it. I either need to wash these clothes or get my mum to do it."  
"You act like your mum doesn't want to wash clothes. Clothes washing is the best thing a mother can-"  
"Washing! It's probably new washing powder she meant to use on the girl's clothes. Guess I'll have to tell her she mixed it up." Louis said, a content sigh falling from his lips at the realisation he found out what the scent was.  
"Right, washing powder. You sure?" Zayn asked, eyebrow cocked.  
"Pretty sure, guess I'll just have to ask and check when I get home." Louis shrugged, setting his fork down when he was done, standing up afterwards.  
"Where you off to?" Niall asked.  
"Sign ups for the autumn musical has been posted in the studio. Gotta get my name down. Then I have my biology class on the other side of school. Don't want to be late," Louis said. "I'll see you tonight, Z. And you tomorrow, Ni. We can arrange a meet up on the weekend. Better get back into the schedule."  
"Course, see you. Have fun smelling like girl's deodorant for the rest of the day." Niall teased, consequently huffing when Louis threw his bottle cap at him, tearing a small cut on his bottom lip.  
"Asshole." Louis said.  
"Language, Tomlinson. My room, now." A teacher scolded, Louis over-dramatically sighing before trudging off to the room, backpack slung over his shoulder.  
*  
It wasn't washing powder. And to say that Louis was annoyed was an understatement. He saw the way people were side-eyeing him as he patrolled the halls, eyes cast to the floor. He was Louis Tomlinson, the first boy in their year to have openly admitted to smoking a cigarette and doing drugs. He came in everyday with his clothes oozing of cigarette smoke, a generic deodorant scent laced through the seams. Now, though, now he radiated this ridiculous apple and rose scent and he had never felt so judged in his entire life. Regardless of how many cigarettes he held to his clothes, the smoke just seemed in a constant battle with the new, ghost scent.  
"Got a new one or something, Tommo? Smell like a proper different person."  
"Who's the lucky chap then? Or is it still a girl? God knows with you nowadays."  
"Using your sisters perfume is something only children do, Tomlinson. Surprised your mummy hasn't stopped you. Then again, maybe that's the reason your turned to gay."  
Louis just had to roll his eyes and bite on his bottom lip to resist retaliating. They were just jealous, and no matter the amount of shit he got for his sexuality, he knew he had three times the amount of support. His family didn't care, neither did his close friends and regular friends. Plus, there would always be some people who had an issue with it, so he never let the insults sink too deep into his skin. He just shoved past the people and went into his biology class, huffing as he let his bag fall to the floor and cardigan hang on the back of the chair.  
"Are you okay?" A voice asked, startling Louis slightly. Not because he didn't think anybody was sat next to him, but because the voice was nice. Deep, dripping from the person's mouth like honey. The pitch was low, pace slow and Louis felt like he was falling in love a little.  
"Huh?" He asked, turning to look at the person. And he almost regretted it, almost. This person had lovely, curly brown hair that tumbled in little waterfalls of ringlets. Half of their hair was pulled up into a topknot, and Louis momentarily thought that was a female trend, but let that though pass by when he realised how pretty the person looked with it. Their eyes were strikingly green, like little emeralds that exposed emotion so fluently, as though the feeling was written in a bright red pen across his forehead. "I'm good, yeah. Why?"  
"You don't seem it. You have stress wrinkles on your forehead and your eyebrows are scrunched together. You're usually the happy person." The person observed, their shoulders raising and dropping in a small shrug.  
"I'm just- confused." Louis said, resorting to slumping in his seat.  
"Louis Tomlinson, confused? Can you believe he has human emotions?" The guy joked, doodling a small flower on the edge of his lined paper.  
"Dick, a normal person would ask why I'm confused and would offer moral support, not tease me." Louis muttered, scrunching up a small ball of paper and tossed it at the guy, a giggle slipping out when it landed in their curls.  
"Considering you probably don't know my name, I highly doubt that you'd want to talk to me about your issues." Curly commented, casting a side glance to Louis before extracting the paper from his hair, throwing it over into the bin.  
"I-" Louis said, stalling when he realised he didn't actually know the name of Curly and for a moment that thought saddened him for two reasons. One, because this person seemed nice and interested and two, because Louis knew everybody. Louis was Louis, how was there someone who he didn't know? "I admit, I don't know your name. So, what's your name? And how do you know mine?" He asked.  
Curly rolled his eyes, turning in his seat to look at Louis. As he moved, Louis got overwhelmed with the scent of apples and roses, and Louis guessed the guy kicked his cardigan as he span. Either way, the smell battled up his nose and repulsed him once again. As if he needed to be reminded of this awful smelling curse that was following him. "Everybody knows your name. The ever so talented Louis Tomlinson who has everyone falling at his feet. You get the lead in every drama show, every musical, captain of the footie team, vice Head Boy. This school worships you, as though you're surprised everyone knows you. I heard a year seven gushing over your handwriting on the sign up sheet for the musical earlier. Your handwriting. Anyway," the guy said, and for the first time in his life Louis didn't feel happy after hearing someone remind him of his reputation in the school. "I'm Harry Styles. I transferred here for sixth form. Heard they have a wonderful music and English department, and considering my old school discontinued music, here can't be much worse."  
And that evoked a laugh from Louis, his mood raised. Not only because the guy, Harry, was very easy and nice to talk too, but also because it turned out he hadn't forgotten someone's name, they were new. He would've felt atrocious if he had forgotten the name of someone who was in his year, but seeing as Curly was new and it was only their third day in the first term, there was no way he would have known him. "Harry Styles, seriously?"  
"Um," Harry said, leaning back a little. "Yeah? Is that an issue?"  
"No, no. S'just... Bit of a fancy name, innit? Styles, sounds like a rock star in the making."  
"Oh, yeah. You're like, the twentieth person to tell me that today." Harry chuckled, scribbling down the date on the corner of his paper, along with the title of the session.  
"Not a surprise. Am I the twentieth to tell you that you have a gorgeous profile?" Louis asked, following suit when the teacher walked into the classroom.  
"No," Harry said, a grin peeking up on his lips. "The twenty-seventh."  
"Asshole." Louis muttered, tossing another sheet of paper at him.  
"Tomlinson, attitude. Stay after for ten minutes," Miss Darling said, passing a glare in Louis' direction before turning back to the rest of the class. "Anyway, today we're just going to begin by going over some GCSE work, mainly the three essential processes to biology. Can someone define osmosis?"  
Harry's hand shot up, pen tapping on his paper as he waited to be asked. "The movement of water particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration down a concentration gradient through a partially permeable membrane."  
"Yes, amazi-!"  
"That's wrong," Louis interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "Not all wrong, but water doesn't have concentration. Not pure water at least, and that's the sort of water we refer too when we discuss osmosis. It's from an area of high water potential to an area of low water potential."  
"It's rude to interrupt, Louis. If miss says it's right then-"  
"But she's not right, and it's not right. I had a lecture on my GCSE mock about how it was water potential and not concentration. If concentration would've been accepted I would've got an A* instead of an A." Louis huffed, arms crossing over his chest.  
"Louis, we've already had a discussion about your attitude. Don't interrupt," Miss Darling retorted. "If you still have such deep regret towards your mock grades, then talk to your teacher at GCSE."  
"You were my teacher at GCSE." Louis answered, turning to Harry when he heard him chuckle from the space next to him.  
"That's it, detention. Your attitude is beyond me, and I know you think you can sway all the teachers here but not me. You shall not and cannot disrespect me. And I will keep dishing out detentions until you learn respect."  
"Respect is earned, not automatic, miss." Louis shrugged, looking down at his paper to scribe down the definition of osmosis.  
"Tomlinson." She snapped, evoking another small chuckle from Harry. Louis' eyes rolled, and he decided to stay mute for the rest of the class, he didn't want his year to start off too poorly.  
An after the ten minute scolding from Miss Darling about respect and authority as Louis went to leave, he stopped in the doorway and took another sniff of his jacket and as if it happened by magic, the scent of roses and apples was stronger than when he came in. As confusion clouded his mind once again, he found himself leaving the classroom the same way he came in, annoyed, curious and frightened that a ghost was chasing him who smelt of apples and roses.  
*  
"Louis, darling. I think we need to talk," Louis' mum said, causing him to look up from his text book and over to his mother who was currently drying cutlery for their dinner tonight. "Nothing serious, I'm just curious."  
"Um, okay. What's up?" He asked, popping the lid back on the pen so it wouldn't dry out.  
"You came to me a week ago asking about the washing powder I use for the girls laundry compared to yours, complaining you smelt weird," Jay recounted, setting the plates down one after the other as she dried them. "So it's been a week, and when I went to pick up your clothes from your laundry basket, all I smelt was apples and roses. And after rummaging around in your room a little, sorry, I noticed no new cologne or deodorants or anything."  
"It's taken you a week to notice the smell? Thank god you have, I was beginning to think I'd gone-"  
"Do you have a secret boyfriend you aren't telling me about?" She interrupted. "I mean, you're in sixth form, almost seventeen, I understand that relationships start up and although you've never been one to hide things from me, I just thought since it would be your first boyfriend you would be worried. It's just.. The smell is all over your clothes, all in your room. It's so heavily scented and it's made me wonder if you cuddle and hug them a lot."  
"What? No! I don't have a secret boyfriend I'm hiding from you." Louis said, eyes narrowing as he looked over at his mum.  
"No, no. I don't think it's a bad thing that you haven't mentioned it. I was just curious. It would explain the scent. I'm just trying to work out how I clean your shirts every other day but you come back with them smelling the same. I just don't want this smell to intoxicate the house. It's nice, kind of, but very overwhelming." Jay explained, beginning to set out the table.  
"I would tell you if I was dating someone, mum. And if I was trying to hide them then I would find a way to cover up the smell or explain it. I'm just as confused as you are, trust me. It's been following me around for weeks. I don't know what it is or how to get rid of it. I'm beginning to think someone has bewitched me. Either that or I've lost the ability to sweat and instead my bodily fluid smells of roses and apples." Louis sighed.  
"None of your friends wear it?" Jay asked, glancing over to Louis as she began laying out the cutlery and the upturned glasses onto napkins.  
"Well, no. I've asked them all. If it is, then it has to be someone who I spend a lot of time wi-" He started, but cut himself off when the answer slapped him in the face like a wet fish. "I'm so fucking stupid."  
"Language, Louis." Jay scolded, going back to tend to the dinner as Louis rushed upstairs.  
*  
"It's you!" Louis yelled, walking up to Harry in the locker room. He ignored the weird looks of people around him as he pointed his index finger directly at the curly haired boy, trying to broadcast a menacing look even though he was positive he looked like an agitated puppy.  
"Um, what?" Harry asked, holding his books to his chest as he went and shut the door to his locker, leaning against it afterwards.  
"You're the one with the smell! The fucking smell that's been driving me mental the last week. What have you been doing? Spraying it on me in secret? What, tell me!" Louis snapped, letting out a deep, agitated breath.  
"What the hell are you on, Louis? I haven't done anything. What do you think I've been doing? Secretly spraying your clothes with my cologne when you aren't looking? You seem to forget that we are hardly friends and that I'm not scarily obsessed with you. What? I don't fantasise about us dating and you wearing my clothes and smelling like me if that's what your mind is conjuring up. I don't know what happened but I think you're either high or terribly confused." Harry said, maintaining a low voice, and his stupidly slow pace. Well, not stupid, Louis thought, rather endearing.  
"What? You haven't been spraying me?" Louis asked, bewildered.  
"Uh, no? Did you not just hear me?"  
"Well then how is your smell getting on me? You are the one wearing apple and roses, right?" Louis questioned, slightly sheepish in case he just came up, shouting accusations in Harry's face.  
"Yeah, that's me. And I dunno what's happened. Maybe it's just clinging onto you because we share all our classes together and sit next to each other in all of them." Harry shrugged, glancing down at his watch to check the time.  
"Oh, that makes sense." Louis said, slumping a little.  
"Right, of course. Anything else? We have music first and I don't want to be late."  
"Can you change your cologne? Or use less of it?" Louis asked, and for a moment regretted it when a look of hurt flashes across Harry's face.  
"What? Why? Does it smell bad. I knew people have been-"  
"No, no! It's just- it's clearly very strong and concentrated and it's on every piece of clothing that I wear and my mum keeps insisting I have a secret boyfriend that I'm not telling her about. And I'm tired of telling her that no, I'm not dating anyone and it would honestly just make my life ten times easier if you stopped wearing it." Louis rambled out, again confused as Harry appeared hurt again.  
"You want me to stop wearing something that makes me happy because you don't want someone thinking you're dating me?" Harry checked.  
"That's not what I said."  
"Well, that's what it sounded like. And sorry, no. I won't stop wearing it. Guess you'll just have to stop sitting by me if the smell of me is that repugnant to you." Harry muttered, his eyes rolling before he walked off to the classroom, leaving Louis deflated.  
"Harry." Louis sighed, expecting Harry to turn around before he remembered how different Harry was in the fact that he didn't care about Louis and his reputation, and wouldn't turn around the second Louis called him name.  
And it was when he got to their music class and spotted Harry sitting on the opposite side of the room that he realised he had well and truly cocked up.  
*  
It's at lunch a week later when Louis has had enough of being ignored by Harry. He can't stand it. The smell of apples and roses had long left the smell of his clothes, but he somehow missed it, despite how overpowering and annoying he once found it. He had nobody sat next to him in any of his lessons and for the first time in his life at the school he felt lonely. And like an asshole.  
He knew he argued with some people from time to time, but that was only if they offended him or any of his friends. Louis would never purposefully go out of his way to hurt another person, but he had realised he'd done that to Harry. Harry was new to this school, and all Louis had done was be an ass and push him away and never in his life had he felt so awful. He felt like a bully, and having been bullied himself back in primary school, the guilt flooded through him everyday when he saw Harry. It wasn't that Harry seemed lonely, because he didn't, but at lunch and breaks and in the morning, Louis would see him by himself, wondering around as though looking for a place to fit in. And it made Louis feel sick to his stomach. He was, although briefly, the person who kept Harry company, made him smile. But now he was basically a bully, and the thought drove sadness through the blood that ran through his veins. And quite frankly, he was fed up.  
So he picked up his tray, stormed over to where Harry was alone at the table and slammed down on the surface, sitting directly in front of him. He made a good effort to ignore not only his friends watching him from their regular table, but also the fact that at least half of the remaining canteen were currently staring at him.  
"That space is saved." Harry said, voice monotone as he stared at Louis, lazily chewing on the sandwich.  
"For who?" Louis questioned.  
"Someone who doesn't find my cologne insulting to their ego." Harry commented, lips wrapping around his straw as he took a sip of his water.  
"I never said that, Harry," Louis whined, stretching his arms out over the table like a cat in distress. "I just didn't want my mum thinking I was lying to her."  
"Then why couldn't you have fucked off home and explained why you smelt differently? There was no need to be such a prick about it." Harry said, eyes rolling.  
"I didn't mean-"  
"Of course you didn't, because you're Louis Tomlinson. The bloke who everyone dies to be friends with, the guy who to the majority of the school can do no harm. But honestly, at the end of the day, you're as bad as the people who dislike you. Snide comments, building up your ego and only giving a shit about yourself. It's draining to watch, Louis. And dare I say for a moment I thought we were friends. But no, can't risk being friends with one of the new kids. You just wanted me falling at your feet like every other sheep in this school." Harry retorted, taking another idle bite from his sandwich.  
"You completely misunderstood everything that I say, Harry." Louis sighed.  
"Did I? If I misunderstood then you would've talked to me the day of the incident, explained what you meant and apologised. But instead you haven't talked to me for a week and are spending this conversation defending yourself instead of saying your sorry. Guilty, that's what you are." Harry explained, drumming his fingers over the table as he kept staring at Louis, almost daring him to challenge what he said.  
"That may be true, but you're making it out like I've been bullying and insulting you since you came to this school. What happened was misinterpreted. It's not me defending myself, it's-"  
"You may not be the bully, but you've encouraged the rest of them in this place. I've gone my life being the kid who's been teased. The one who wears the unusual scents, dislikes everything generically masculine, teased for being myself. I thought coming here that would change. But no, some dickhead with a big mouth and rude opinions called what I liked feminine and something a girl would wear and now I'm being called a tranny and a shemale," Harry snapped, dropping the sandwich into it's wrapper and clenching his fists closed. "This is your fault, Louis. I'm not one to let bullying get to me, but think about who else this could be effecting. Ever considered there may be some confused and bewildered transgender person at this school, and all this shit being talked about me being a shemale has knocked all their confidence down? You don't know how powerful you are here, you're the leader of the pack. So when you call something feminine, you're inviting asshole to come and put me down, consequently hurting other people in the process. People can bully me all they like because I'm happy with who I am, I've accepted myself. And you, being openly gay yourself, should be more respectful of people with different sexualities or other situations they're dealing with. Not encouraging people to be douchebags. And unless the next thing that's going to come out of your mouth is an apology, then you can fuck right back off because I don't want to waste my breath anymore on an ignorant, pretentious twat like you."  
Louis was left overwhelmed, speechless. He hadn't considered what had happened in that way, maybe because he never thought to consider it but further because he never thought there were other people dealing with self awareness issues in the school. Which was not only a very naïve thing to think, but was also quite rude to assume. "I'm sorry," he finally said, barely managing to utter out the words through all the embarrassment that had flooded through him. "I never thought about that. You should know that those weren't my intentions, though. I didn't think it was that deep."  
"Of course you didn't," Harry muttered, picking the sandwich back up and didn't speak for a short while. "I'm not going to say that you're forgiven, because you aren't. But at least you're man enough to actually apologise. Maybe I'll move back to you, but don't expect me to be overly joyful about it. You're still an asshole in my mind."  
"How do I stop being an asshole in your mind though?" Louis asked, taking a shaky and hesitant sip from his drink.  
"Use your power over this place to enforce acceptance. Not judge it."  
*  
When Louis turned up the next day wearing a cherry and lily scented cologne he picked up from the store on the way back home yesterday, it definitely wasn't because of Harry's speech. Well, it was slightly, but this was all a decision he had made by himself to be a better individual. And although it had taken him twenty minutes to accept the smell oozing from him before leaving the house, he was now in school, walking down the hallway. Again, familiar glances were passed his way, resembling the ones he received when smelling like Harry, but this time he ignored them with pride, just flicking back his hair as he stormed towards his biology classroom.  
As he heaved his book bag on the floor and sat down, Harry shot up from where he was staring at the desk, eyebrows furrowing when he saw Louis. Louis' throat cleared, paper being set on his desk before he turned to look at Harry. "Issue?" He asked.  
Harry's head shook, and Louis saw his Adam's apple raise and fall as he swallowed. "No. You just... Your scent. It's not American Dream, is it?"  
"You wanted me to enforce acceptance. Besides, I thought cherry and lily would mix well with apple and rose. Guess we'll have to see." Louis shrugged, and if he had looked away from Harry sooner than he did, he wouldn't have noticed the light dusting of pink that rose on his cheeks as he looked to his paper.  
*  
It takes some time, naturally. Louis didn't expect things to change within a day or so. He knew it would take a while, but not quite two months. It's the end of November before he really feels like he has not only made a difference, but has also gained Harry's trust. He's had several people come up to him, thanking him for spreading such positivity and shattering gender normalities, and as soon as someone does he will hurry to find Harry to tell him about it. And Harry's reaction is, well, magical.  
His eyes light up, glimmering like the jewel's they are with happiness evidently spread across his face. His lips will part and open, pearly teeth on full show as his fuchsia lips tug into a wonderful smile that knocks air from Louis' chest. He will brush his hair back with his fingers, a few ringlets dropping back to where they were before and it takes all of Louis' willpower to not brush them back from his cheek. Louis didn't know how or when it happened, but at some point within the two months, he fell madly and deeply in love with Harry Styles.  
Harry just shone a natural beauty and a wonderful personality, everything that he said would cascade honesty and happiness through Louis' body, filling him up with immense respect and love. He could listen to him talk about poetry everyday of his life, Harry's sweet voice enveloping Louis like a safe blanket, promising comfort, happiness and safety whenever he would need it. So maybe Louis had gone from the once pretentious vice Head Boy who sauntered through the halls like he owned it to the still vice Head Boy who wondered happily in the shadow of Harry Styles, but anyone would be damned to call him out on it.  
"I want to ask you something," Louis piped up at lunch, peeking over at Harry from the top of his thermos. "Something I've been meaning to ask you for a long while now."  
Harry hummed, swallowing his large bite of salad, eye contact with Louis never breaking. "Yeah?" He asked, rubbing his hands over his eyes.  
"Do you want to go out this weekend?" Louis asked, fingers wringing about a little with a small amount of nerves sewn into his actions.  
"We always go out on the weekends." Harry said, obviously not following the trail of thought that Louis was implying.  
"Yes, I know that. I didn't mean like that." Louis chuckled, his fingers drumming over the table.  
"Like what, then? I'm confused."  
"Like a date, Harold." Louis sighed, planting his hands down on the table as he looked over at Louis, lip tugged between his teeth.  
"Oh," Harry said, a sheepish blush rising on his cheeks that almost made Louis burst from the amount of love that swelled in his heart. "It took you long enough." He said, letting out a small laugh, dimples caving into his creamy skin.  
"What? Now I'm confused." Louis whined, stopping when he felt his hand covered by Harry's, fingers interlocking and his nerves sensing a gentle squeeze.  
"I've been waiting for you to ask me out for weeks. I thought after the accidental footsie incident in English you'd text and arrange a date but you never did." Harry said softly, fingers pressing a delicate kiss to each of Louis' knuckles, meaning it was now Louis' turn to blush, cheeks flaming up in an immense velvety red colour.  
"I never knew. I thought I was still proving I wasn't an asshole to you."  
"You haven't been an asshole since the day you turned up wearing the cherry and lily cologne. I never apologised for being so rude-"  
"You don't need to, so don't go there. If it weren't for that I would still be as ignorant as I was before." Louis interrupted, gently brushing his thumb over the back of Harry's hand.  
"Lou-"  
"No, shush," Louis scolded, still grinning. "Anyway, back to my question. Would you like to go out this weekend on a date with me?" He asked.  
"Of course I would, you don't even need to ask." Harry happily replied, beaming over at Louis.  
"Wear your apple and rose, yeah? It's my favourite." Louis said, his voice soft and woven with fond.  
"Deal, only if you do the cherry and lily." Harry teased, passing another gentle squeeze to Louis' hand.  
And if the week after Louis started getting weird glances from his mum again when the house smelt of apple and rose again, he knew he didn't have to explain when he brought back the gorgeous doe-eyed and pink-cheeked angel who had set off not only a bomb of cologne throughout his home, but also a bomb of happiness to Louis' heart.

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: @niallcohan


End file.
